Cutting machine



March 4], 1924. ,v I 1,485,546

H. F. AFFELDER CUTTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 6, 1920 :5 Sheets-Sheet 1 i I0H, 7 x

March 4 1924.

' 1,485,546 H- F. AFFELDER CUTTING MACHINE Filed Feb; 6, 1920 3Sheets-Shed; 2

58 l: 3; IV 7/7 5 g un w 52 I 5 w, -m? 4 mi il zzverzfo 7L H. F.AFF-ELDER CUTTING MACHINE March 4 1924.

Filed Feb. 6, -1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 *2? J QL.

Patented Mar. 4, 1924.

HARRY F. .AFFELDEBI,

on otnvnrnun, 1110.

CUTTING MACHINE.

7 Application fiIed-FebIuary-G, 19 2 0. serlal rlo. 356,677, i

To all whom 2'25 may concern: 1

Be it known that I, HARRY F. AFFELDER', a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland. in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cutting Machines, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to cutting machines adapted particularly forcutting sheet material, such for example as paper employed for formingenvelope blanks, or other materials such as cloth,cardboard, leather andthe like.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a cutting machinewhich is efficient, easily operated, accurate and rigid, and quicklyadjusted to suit the sizeand shape of the article to be cut.

Other objects are to eliminate the necessity of handling the knives ordies; to get exact relation between the position of the knives and thematerial to be cut; to at all times have proper cutting surface on thesupport on which the material to be out 'is supported; and to providemeans whereby there is no waste of power in the operation of themachine.

The invention may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain noveldetails of construction, and combinations and arrangements of partswhich will be described in the specification andset forth in theappended claims.

In the accompanying sheets of drawings illustrating my invention, Fig. 1is a perspective view of a press or cutting machine. embodying thedifierent features of my invention; Fig. 2 is a'rear view looking at theside opposite to that shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an end view of the sameillustrating particularly the inclined position in which the machine issupported; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of a part of the machine showingnisni; Fig. 5 is a similar View showing the same partly in elevation andpartly in section; Fig. 6 is a sectional view through the upper part ofthe machine including the bed, cutting block and reciprocating headcarrying the cutters, this section being taken from the rear to thefront sides of the machine; Fig. 7 is a sectional view with partsomitted,

substantlally along the irregular line 7 T of Fig.- 11, section being atright angles to the section of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a view'showing one ofthe cutters and its associated holder employed for cutting ordinaryenvelope blanks; Fig. 9 is aview showing two associated cutters whichmay be employed for envelope blanking purposes in 'place of the set ofcu tterssu ch as shown in Fig. 8; Fig: 10 is a top plan view showing bydotted lines a stack of envelope blanks out from a block of paper with aset of four cutters such as shown in Fig. 8;. and Fig. "11 is aninverted view showingthe under side of the head of the machine carryingthe cutters, the supporting rods for the headfbeing shown in section.

.F'FICE. if

The machine to which my invention is applied is in the form of a presshaving a base 10, a bed 11' on which'is supported a movable, and inthiscase, a rotary wood block 12 onwhich the cutting is done, the bed beingsupported in fixed position with respect to the base by legs 13projecting upand-block 12is a reciprocating head 14, carrying thecutting mechanism, the head being supported on four parallel rods 15 Twhich pass through and are adjustably se cured in bosses at the fourcorners of the head, and which pass through and are slid-- inglymountedin openings of the bed 11.

the present invention wardly from the base. Abovethe bed 11 V likesub-base 16 which elevates the front side r of the machine with respect"to the rear, as

.most clearly shown in Fig. 3.v

The head lmay be reclprocated by any suitable mechanism, but in thisinstance the machine has a pulley 17 adapted to be .driven by a belt androtating with a fly- 'wheel 18 adapted to be clutched toa shaft 19particularly the clutch operating mechaj by a clutch-2O (see Fig. 4)having a' forwardly projecting operating lever 21. 'The shaft 19 drivesa gear 22 mounted ona transverse shaft suitably supported from thebaselO. and provided'at its, ends with cranks 23, the ends of which areshown in of toggle arms 26. There are four pairs of these toggle armslocated at the four corners of the machine,-twopairsbeing at the frontside and two at'the rear side, ea'ohpairoperated by one of the members25. The upper arms of the four pairs; of toggles are pivoted at fixedpoints 27 at the four corners of the bed 11, and the lower arms areconnected as shown at 28 to the four head operating rods 15. Thus itwill be seenthat when the clutch 20 is throw in, as the crankshaft makesonerev'olution, the head 14' will be lowered and then elevated.

In connection with the operating Inecha nisn'r I have provided a veryeffectivedevice for causing the "clutch be automatically thrown outandthe movement of the press head stopped when the knives are'retractedfollowing each cuttingfop'eration. To accomplish this I have providedthe" upper toggle arm next to the clutch lever 21 with an extension 26at the upper free end of which is aroller'29 which is just'insideef anddireot'lyciopOSite the clutch lever. Like wise I' have provided on theside of the clutch lever a holder 30 for a spring plunger 31 whose innerend 31 is in the plane of this roller when the plunger ispressed inwardthe full amount under the action of the spring.

To start the machineby throwingin the clutch it'is necessary for'theoperator to pull the plunger forwardly'sdthat the head 31 of theplunger{ will clearth'e roller 29 and permit the clutch lever tobe'thrown to the left as the same is viewed in Fig. 4. This the operatorcan readily do since the rear part of the plunger has an upstanding pin"31 which permits the operator with one hand to grasp the clutch lever,"pull back the plunger and theirthrow the lever to the left. Whenthemachine starts, the head is first moved upward slightly (since'itispreferably stopped just before the completion of the upward movementof thehead) and then the head makes its downward cutting stroke. Onthisdownward stroke of the head the toggle arm's arestraightened, andthismovement carries the roller 29 inwardly from the head of the plunger 31and this permits the plunger to snap forward so that the head againliesin the plane of the roller. Onthe completion of the downward stroke ofthe cutting head it is innnediate'ly ele, vated, and thisaga-in'niovesthe roller toward the head of'the plunger, and just before the cuttinghead reaches its'uppermost position the roller 29 engages the'head ofthe plunger and shifts the clutch lever'21 to the right so' as to stopthe press: 7

By this mechanism WhiCl'l-ill practice hasproved to be exceedinglyefiective, poweris not wasted by idle strokes of the cutting head, itbeing the common practice, particularly in the paper industry, to permitpresses to run continuousl the operator sliding the die, material andcutting block into and out of the press between strokes.

The cutters themselves maybe of different forms, and different numbersof cutters may be employed. 7, Regardless of the number that areemployed, they are adjustable so that blanks of different sizes andshapes may be cut. Generally I employ four cutters, such as shown M32 inFig. 8, each cutter being secured by a bolt 33 to a cutter holder 34, adjustably mounted on the head. F or COP: venience, the cutting mechanismper se is carried by a plate 35 which is attached to the underside ofthe head 14. To this plate 35 there is attached a plate 36 having anunder-cut slot 37 extending lengthwise of the head, and along this slottwo of the cutter holders 34 (assuming that four cutters are employed)may be adjusted and secured in any adjusted position, depending upon thesize of the envelope blank to be cut, by T-head bolts 38, the heads ofthe bolts engaging in the wide part of the slot 37 in the mannerindicated in Figs. 6 and 7. The plate 35 also carries a plate 39 whichsupports the other cutters, this plate having a slot 40 similar to theslot 37, this slot adnitting of the lateral adjustment of the cutterholders and permitting them to be secured in any adjusted position as inthe first instance. This plate 39 is adjustable toward and from theplate 36, and to this end the ends of the plate 35 have slots 4-1 whichare parallel to each other and are at "ight angles to the slots 37 and40, and by means of bolts -12 similar to the bolts 38, the plate 39 can"be loosened, adjusted toward or from the relatively fixed plate 36, andthen secured in the desired position. It will be seen, therefore, thatwith this mechanism the pairs of cutters and cutter flOlClQi'Sassociated with each slot 37 or 40 are adjustable toward and from eachother, and that the plate 39 is adjustable toward and from the fixedplate 36, and by reason of thlS'COllSiflLlCilOll, blanks of any desiredsize canbe out It will be understood that instead of the slotted platesprovided for the adjustment of the cutters, other suitable andequivalent means may purpose;

Above I have stated that the slot 37 extends through the plate 36 andthat the slot 10 extends through the adjustable plate 39. In practice,for convenience informing the slots 37 and 40, each plate 36 and 39 iscomposed of two similar halves which are relatively'fixed, forming aslot of proper width.

As before stated, it is not essential that the cutter head he providedwith four cutters; For example, for certain work, two cutters 43 securedto holders 4a as shown in 9 may be employed, theseholders being adaptedto be secured one in each of the slots be provided for this ill 37 and40 in the manner already explained.

At. times it may be desirable to employ six cutters, in which eventthree cutters and their holders will be positioned in each of hereinillustrated, and particularly the supporting mechanism for the cuttersincluding the holders and the bolts by which they may be released foradjustment, or secured in position, enables the cutters to be correctlypositioned for any desired size, of blank. Any desired gauging means maybe utilized in connection with. the adjustable cutter holders to enablethe operator to correctly position them.

In order that the cutters and material to be cut may be accuratelypositionedrelatively, and at the same time to permit the block of paper(or equivalent material) to be quickly positioned on the cuttingsurface, I employ two sets of adjustable gauges. Qne set of gaugesconsists of a pair of rods 45, projecting inward from the rear side ofthe machine over the block 12, these gauges havingvdownturned endsagainst which the rear side of theblock of paper is placed. The otherset of gauges consists of a pair of similar rods 46 which projectinwardly from one end of the machine, and have similar down-turned endsagainst which one end of the block of paper is placed.

These gauge rods 45 are adjustably mounted on the machine, in'this.instance on a frame extending along the rear and along one end of themachine above the block 12, this frame in this case consisting of angles47 secured to upright angles 48 at three corners of the bed 11. Thegauges are secured to the flanges of the angles 47 byspecial bolts 49which permit the gauges to be moved in .or out, or to be moved laterallysince the shanks of the bolts project through slots 50 r in the flangesof the angles as clearly shown in Fig. 11.

When the cutters have been adjusted to the proper positions to cut ablank of the proper size, and when the gauges have been properly set andfixed in position so that the block of paper will be properly positionedwith respect to the cutters it is only necessary for the operator toslide in the block. until the rear side and one end bear against thedown-turned inner ends of the gauges and then to throw in the clutchwhereupon blanks of the desired shape and size will be cut.

One other very important feature of my improved machine remains to beexplained, this being the means for rotating the block 12 at eachcutting operation. Ifthe block 12 were stationary so that the cuttingedges of the knives or cutters engaged the same portions of the block ateach stroke a proper at 62 in the, same figure.

a 'pin 63-wliich projects inward in the planev may be turned over,

cutting surfacefor accurate work wouldnot' be obtained. I thereforeprovide the fol lowing mechanism for rotating the block at each stroke.At the rear side of the machine I provide two rollers 51, against whichtwo spaced points of the periphery of the block rest. I nected to thebed 11, and since the latter is The block is not directly coninclined tothe rear, the block 12 will at all times bear with a certain degreeofpressure against these two rollers 51. Not onlyldo these rollers serveas supports forthe block, butthey are utilized to turn it, andconstitute a friction drive means therefor. To this end the rollers aremounted on vertical studs 52 which are journaled in. bearings 53 fixedin an outstanding flange of an angle 54 along the rear edge of the bed.At the lower ends of the twostuds 52, ratchet wheels 56 are provided.These two ratchet wheels, and hence the two rollers are given apredetermined rotary movement just before the completion ofthe upward orreturn stroke of the cutting mechanism, and this is accomplished by apair of pawls 57 carried by'an endwise movable holder in the form of anangle 58,-likewise mounted at therear edge of the bed, in this instanceon the down-standing flange of the. angle. 54.

This pawl holder 58 is normally held in one position by a spring r59(see Fig. 2) and it is moved in an endwise direction against the actionof the spring just before the comple tion of the return. stroke of thehead by a lever 60 pivoted at 61 on the base 10 as shown in 2, andhaving a pin and slot connection with the pawl holder 58 as shown ofmovement of a roller 64 on the endof the'crank 23 which isat the rearsideof the machine. I V

The parts are so positioned that just before the clutch is thrown out,this roller64 engages the pin68 swinging the lever 60 and causing thepawl holder 58'to be moved to the right, as shown in Fig. 2. The pawls57 This lever 60- hasengage the'ratch'et wheels '56 and give thev blocksupporting rollers 5 1 a predetermined rotary movement, and thisimpartsa slight rotary movement to theblock.

As before stated, a friction drive is thus" provided to rotate theblock. This is preferable to a direct driving action for it is desirablethat the block be given a movement not of a predetermined amount, but ofa small irregular or indefinite amount so that v. as the block is'rotated it is unlikely that it will be stoppedin exactly the sameposition which it previously occupied at some prior cutting operation.Of course it is understood that when the upper surface of the block'hasbeen cut considerably by the action of the cutters it will be resurfacedor In operation, the operator will first adjust the knives or cuttersand the gauges so as to.

adapt them for cutting blanks of a given size from a block of materialof a given size. He will then slide the block to be cut inward until therear side and one end rest against the gauges. Next he will throw in theclutch, whereupon the cutting head descends and the cutters cut theblanks as desired. Immediately after the down stroke of the head thelatter begins its return stroke, and just before the completion of itsreturn stroke the block 12 is rotated slightly and then the clutch isautomatically thrown out and the machine is stopped until the clutch isagain thrown in for the next cuttingoperation.

To prevent the block of cutting blanks being dragged upward from thecutting surface of the block 12 by the action of the receding cutters, Imount on the head a plunger which on the down stroke of the head engagesthe top of the block of material to be cut and is moved upwardly throughthe head compressing a coil spring 66 (see Fig. 6). The tension thusimposed in the spring is sufficient to force the block of out blanks outfrom between the cutters as the cutting head is raised. Therefore at thecompletion of the return stroke, the operator can slide the block of cutblanks from the block 12, and either he or another operator can slideand properly position on the block 12 another block of paper to be cut.The machine can thus be operated with rapidity, and since the block 12is rotated slightly after each cutting operation, the material is outcleanly if sufiiciently sharp cutters are employed.

The operation of the machine is much facilitated by reason of the factthat the ma chine as a whole is tipped from the vertical. In the firstplace, the rotary block 12 is held by gravity against the actuatingrolls; second, the operator has a better insight into the machine sincethe front end is elevated with respect to the rear end: third, scraps ofpaper are more easily disposed of; and fourth, the block of material tobe cut is more readily and more uniformly placed against the gauges thanwould be the case if it were moved horizontally inward against verticalgauges.

It will be obvious that certain changes may be made in details ofconstruction and arrangement, and I therefore do not desire to beconfined to the exact construction herein illustrated.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a cutting machine, a head adapted to be provided with a cutter, arotatable cutting block toward and from which the head is moved, meansfor imparting a regular reciprocating stroke to the head, means for im-65" parting irregular rotative movements to the eashes block including afriction roller bearing against a portion of said block and adapted toslip with respect thereto, and means operated in timed relation with themovements of the head for imparting rotative movements to said roller,and through said roller iojsaid block during the movement of said sad.

2. In a cutting machine for blanking out or trimming sheet material, astationary bed, a flat head above the bed and reciprocable toward andfrom the same, cutters adjustably supported on the lower face of thehead, means for operating the head, a rotary block on the bed adapted tobe pierced by the cutting edges of the cutters on each cutting stroke,and means operating in predetermined timed relation with the movementsof the head for causing irregular movements to be imparted to, theblock.

8. A cutting machine in the form of a press, comprising a reciprocablehead adapted to be provided with cutters, means for supporting andmoving said head, toward and from said bed, a supporting bed beneathsaid head, said bed having a flat inclined upper face, a flat circularcutting block upon said bed, spaced rollers at the lower side of saidbed engaging the periphery of said cutting block for positioning andsupporting the same, and means for intermittently imparting rotativemovement to one of said rollers.

1. A cutting machine in the form of a press, comprising a reciprocablehead adapted to be provided with cutters, means for supporting andmoving said head toward and from said bed, a supporting bed beneath saidhead, said bed having a flat inclined upper face, a fiat circularcutting block lying on said bed, spaced rollers at the lower side ofsaid bed engaging the periphery of said cutting block for positioningand supporting the same, and means actuated by said head moving means toimpart a rotative movement to one of said rollers while said head iselevated.

5. In a cutting machine, a stationary bed, a head supported above thebed and reciprocable toward and from the same, a cutter carried'by thehead, means for imparting regular reciprocating movements to the head, arotary block on the bed adapted to be pierced by the cutting edges ofthe cutters on each cutting stroke, and means operating in predeterminedtimed relation with the movements of the head for causing irregularrotative movements to be imparted to the block,

6. In a cutting machine, a stationary bed, a head supported above thebed and'reciprocable toward and from the same, a cutter carried by thehead, means for imparting regular reciprocating movements to the head, arotary block on the bed adapted to be pierced by the cutting edges ofthe cutters on each cutting stroke, and driving means connecting thehead and block for imparting rotative movements to the blockintermittently in predetermined timed relation with the movements of thehead, said driving means including frictionally engaged elements adaptedto slip one upon the other whereby the rotative movements of the blockare irregular.

7 In a cutting machine, a reciprocable head adapted to be provided withcutters, a bed toward and from whichthe head is movable, a cutting blockon the bed, circumferentially spaced friction rollers engaging theperipheral edge of the block and adapted to slip with respect thereto,and means for actuating the rollers to rotate the block during eachcycle of movement of the head whereby irregular movements are impartedto the block.

8. A cutting machine in the form of a press comprising a reciprocablehead adapted to be provided with cutters, a bed beneath the head towardand from which the head is adapted to be moved, means for supporting andactuating the head in a direction inclined with respect to the vertical,an inclined cutting blocklying upon the bed which is higher at one sideof the machine than the other, rotary means engaging the periphery ofthe block for supporting the same at the relatively low side of theblock, and means for turning said rotary means to shift the block. 7

9. In ,a cutting machine, a reciprocable head adapted to be providedwith cutters,

a bed toward and from which the head is against which stock is adaptedto be placed preparatory to being out, said gauges being located on thelower side of the bed and projecting upwardly above the block;

10.In a cutting machine, a reciprocable head having a plurality ofadjustably supported cutters on the lower face thereof, a bed toward andfrom which the head is adapted to be moved,a rotary cutting blockcarried by the bed, the head and bed being inclined with respect to thehorizontal, whereby one side of the bed is lower than the other, and

gauges against which stock is adapted to be placed, said gauges beingsupported along the lower side and along one end of the bed.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto my signature.

HARRY F. AFFELDER.

